There are 3 stages to every relapse; Panic, Forcing it Down (practicing somatic tracking with a ferocity and vehemence that defeats the very purpose) and finally the conquering of the relapse by the patient by getting a grip over herself and practicing the technique of somatic tracking in a relaxed, unforced and flowing manner. Alon has a degree in neuroscience and was awarded the Certificate of Distinction in Teaching in Biology from UCLA. Have you had numerous tests, lab work, CT scans, MRIs, and doctors have said there is structurally nothing wrong with you? The good news is that all pain originates in the brain, which means you can retrain your brain into no longer sending frequent pain signals and break free of the pain-fear cycle.

Having stumbled across this book and put its recommendations into practice, I have been pain free for over a month. The authors explain the pain-fear cycle and how it’s possible to break that and create new connections in the brain. Based on the premise that pain starts in the brain not the body, Gordon’s Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) enables you to rewire your neural circuits and turn off ‘stuck’ pain signals .

In addition to back, neck and knee pains, he also suffered from heel pain tongue pain, eye pain, tooth pain toe pain (three different toes! The exercises on this page were created exclusively for Curable users by the authors themselves to help share real-world applications of PRT. In a ground-breaking study, PRT helped 98% of patients reduce their pain levels and 66% were completely cured. This is the revolutionary message from psychotherapist Alan Gordon who, frustrated by the lack of effective treatment for his own debilitating pain, developed a highly successful approach to eliminating symptoms without surgery or medication, offering a viable and drug-free alternative to existing – and often addictive – methods.

I would have scoffed and thrown this book if I didn't know better, but there is *actual science* to back it up. So, it is wonderful to have a book on PRT that is easy to understand and that clearly explains how to successfully treat chronic pain. Midway thru the book (after a lame reference to the sideshow-act "Dr Phil"), we encounter an episode where the author tells of how he bolted out of a college seminar one day, driving on impulse from the West Coast to NYC to meet Lorne Michaels, expecting to get hired on-the-spot as a cast member of SNL (? I think I was in a period of high stress (living through a pandemic, putting pressure on my newly bigger body to exercise beyond my capacity, changing from a part-time job to a full-time job, stressing over finances and finding a librarian position now that I had a Master's. In one of their younger patients, whom they saw weekly, a total transformation occurred within 3 months.I have read John Sarno's book on back pain and found it no help at all, but this book has a more nuanced and sophisticated approach than that book. Mind Body recovery always seemed so daunting to me; so many rules, find your buried emotions, don't think of the pain (but also don't use distraction), love yourself. I have a feeling this book with help me with other discomforts such as seasickness, so I'm going to work on that next. I went to the neurologist and tried anti-CGRPs, triptans, and currently am on an SNRI that has boosted my mood enough to actually consider reading a book like this and be open to the possibility that it could help. The insidious trifecta of worry, self-criticism and self-imposed pressure combine in the most adverse of fashion, according to Gordon to exacerbate the degree of neuroplastic pain.

They also realised that it would be possible to rewire the neurons in the brain in such a way so that they recognise the typical characteristics and tell tale signals of neuroplastic pain and cease from creating any form of pain. Alan Gordon and Alon Ziv in their compelling book “Way Out”, introduce the concept of Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), a radical approach to eliminating chronic pain instead of just managing the discomfiture by taking recourse to conventional remedies such as surgeries, physiotherapy and opioids intake. The hope and optimism I have been feeling since starting in this new direction have been a very welcome breath of fresh air. While there are some reasonable ideas in this book that may be helpful in reducing and managing chronic pain, the book is a bit too chatty and fluffy for my liking. Scientists study positive affect by having subjects look at happy images, watch funny videos, or listen to joyful music.Another thing I rate this book for, is it’s brevity; there’s enough detail to ensure everything is clear and covered but no superfluous text. Who, other than a bipolar person, in mania mode, drops it all for a wild goose-chase of this proportion? As I read in another's accurate review, this book could have, and indeed should have, been a pamphlet advertising his services. Scans showed nothing wrong- no brain lesions or tumors, no inflamed blood vessels, no swollen sinuses, no pinched nerves. Over the next several years, I went through MRI’s and blood tests, was prescribed a couple different anti-depressants, Sumatriptan, Frovatriptan, a couple different anti-seizure medications, birth control, monthly emgality injections, nurtec every other day, and I even tried Botox for migraine once - they inject you all over your scalp and into your shoulders and neck.

I hope that anyone else in my situation finds this book and rids themselves from the prison that is chronic pain. Zuerst gibt es einen kurzen Überblick zur wissenschaftlichen Lage von chronischen Schmerzen (und anderen Erkrankungen) und wie sehr das Gehirn diese beeinflusst. John Sarno's book, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection, and am surprised it was never mentioned in Gordon's book. I can’t stress enough how incredible and ground-breaking this book is - it’s so insightful, very easy to read, and would help so many people living with chronic pain.

I know a fair amount about the science of pain and neuroplastic pain, and have quite a few techniques which I use for helping me on this journey (Curable, JournalSpeak as pioneered by Nicole Sachs, meditation etc), but I have still gotten so so much out of this book.